Fragile World
by Dalknexus
Summary: After the battle at the Valley of the End, Naruto was closer to death than anyone could predict. After waking up weeks after the fight, he realizes how fragile the world is. Especially when it seems that anything he touches simply falls apart.
1. Prologue: The Glass World

**Fragile World**

Disclamer: I don't own anything in this!

AN: Now I have come back for a bit to see how my writing improved after a while. I'm writing this as a test seeing the other story that I had planned to finish I'll probably need to redo the direction and figure out where I once was going with the plot. Still bothers me that the tab indentation is lost on format conversion.

**Prologue: The Glass World**

A being of power sealed in the belly of a human no older than 13 year of age stared down to a boy lying in the sewer water of prison. This being of power is an ancient and powerful nine-tailed fox staring down at its own host, channeling its energy to keep him alive from his last battle. The fox cut off its supply of power and roared in frustration.

"It's futile," thought Kyuubi. "The boy used too much of my power in too little time. I can no longer repair anymore damage that Uchiha brat has done without damaging this idiot."

The finale of the fight in the valley of the end left his host, Naruto, in terrible condition. The fox cloak that Naruto summon started to draw and boil blood from his body. While blood lost is minor threat to his survival, it was the other problem that threatens the existence of the fox. One major problem is the strike to the heart from the Uchiha's last Chidori attack. While Naruto scratch the forehead protector of his rival or friend, Sasuke manage to deal a chidori strike that barely punctured the blonde boy's heart. With the heart pumping life out of the body, the brain won't be able to get any oxygen or nutrients that his missing blood would supply.

"This wouldn't happen if the brat killed him instead of taking the blow." The Kyuubi thought as its eye lids started getting heavier as moments passed as his container started to slip from being merely passed out to sleeping in a coma due to brain damage. It wasn't long until the Kyuubi thought it was a good time to slip into a nap.

On the outside world, Kakashi discovered where Naruto was. It wouldn't be later that he would found out that if he was a couple minutes late that he would be going to his student's funeral. As the white haired jounin picked up the boy, he noticed how cold the boy was as well as the chest wound that would not stop bleeding.

"Shit!" cursed the panicking ninja as he applied basic medical knowledge and tried to stop the blood from flowing as he rushed back to Konoha. "Don't die on me Naruto."

* * *

Konoha's Hospital was busier than usual as the team sent to retrieve the renegade Uchiha had come back with injuries varying from broken fingers to massive chakra drain to holes through the chest. If the hospital was in state of disarray before the current Hokage bursted in and started barking order then it was utter chaos afterwards when Kakashi arrived with a near dead boy. As people dashed around getting tools and yelling around the hospital, the Godaime hustled into the room the Naruto was going to get operated on and closed the doors. Moments after the doors closed, a pink haired genin collapsed at the doorway.

On chance that Sakura saw her Jounin-sensei carry her limp teammate to the hospital as she waited for the team to report back with Sasuke. Fearing the worse, she quickly tried to follow and keep up with her teacher, but he was far faster; however, as much as she dreads it, she knew where the jounin was going. As she stood, oblivious to her surrounding, in front of the gateway to the blonde boy, she thought of the last thing he had said to her.

"Promise of a lifetime!"

"Naruto, I'm sorry. Don't die and leave me too." Sakura thought. Although the more vicious self inside (which was dubbed Inner Sakura) said something along the lines of "I didn't mean you should die for it!" It wasn't until tomorrow that she would learn about the condition of her teammate.

On the next day, the remainder of Team Seven met in the Hokage's office. The habitually late jounin wasn't late for once as Tsunade summon him and his last genin. The pink haired girl was looking under the weather as she didn't quite look like she had a good sleep. The jounin next to her looked the same, but the Godaime felt the depression that a ninja will not outwardly show. Even when the two ninjas arrived, they stood in silence until the pink haired genin spoke out.

"How… How is Naruto?" For the first time, Sakura didn't ask about Sasuke first. She was genuinely worried about her more clumsy and stupid teammate than if her first crush was brought back. From yesterday's events, she had convinced herself that she was the one who drove Sasuke away and sent Naruto to be critically injured.

"For the moment, he's alive, but that's all we can say. He suffered from oxygen deprivation due to blood lost and that gave him brain damage." The Hokage explained. "The other injuries that he suffered was the punctured heart and massive chakra burns to his network. We managed to heal the the superficial injuries, but the damage that was done to the brain may leave him in a coma for an undefined amount of time."

After hearing the diagnosis, the girl broke down crying as she rushed out of the room. Kakashi still in the room still had additional question to ask.

"What about the seal and why hasn't the fox healed him anymore?"

Tsunade turned and looked out of the window as she answered the questions. "The seal is fine, Minato made sure it will hold no matter the circumstances. The fox can't heal him anymore because he's the reason why the chakra burns are there in the first place. It seems that Naruto used a lot of the fox's power in the fight against Sasuke. He pulled so much chakra out that it was destroying his body." Tsunade paused then she turned around to face Kakashi. "If you have no other question, you're dismissed."

* * *

Days passed by as Naruto's room started to gather flora of different colors place by two different people. One being from the normally violent female teammate of the blonde and another in the form of a shy but stalker like Hyuuga. Both girls were equally concern for the blonde, one from the long time love interest and another from guiltiness of making the 'Promise of a Lifetime'. They both hoped that the blonde boy woke up from his long slumber and still be the bubbly boy they knew. What they could not predict was the pandemonium that would result when he did wake up.

* * *

Naruto awoke and sat up in a bed that was completely unfamiliar to him. Normally what that means to him is that he woke up in the hospital. As he yawned and stretched, he suddenly remembered the last time that happened. He remembered the fight against Sasuke then the piercing pain in his heart. Getting up from the bed, the first thing he noticed was that he was still dressed in his clothes instead of the normal hospital gown.

"What the hell, did I get up at night?" Naruto asked himself softly as he check outside door leading to his room he awoke from and discovered there was no sound or activity at all. Looking toward the window of his room, he could see the sunlight peering out. Being that this was a strange occurance he started to wander the hospital while calling for anyone. It wasn't long until he could hear sounds coming from the front desk to the hospital.

"Hey lady, where is everyone?" Naruto asked as he approached the secretary. The women seemed to not have hear Naruto as she kept writing on papers on the desk.

"Hey lady!" The boy tried to get the seemly oblivious lady's attention again. Seeing that he was being ignored for some reason, he grabbed the hand that was writing on the paper. As expected, the lady stopped but what he didn't expect was why she had stopped. The instant Naruto made contact with the women, she simply fell apart as if he had unraveled the string the held a doll together.

"W-What," The terrified boy stutter as he backed away in horror. He backed into a nearby chair and like the lady, it too fell apart. "What's happening?"

Unable to comprehend what was happening, Naruto ran out of the hospital. When he exited the hospital, he found himself suddenly in a busy area of Konoha. Looking behind him, all he could see is his favorite ramen stand.

"Naruto! There's where you're at! C'mon we need to meet with Kakashi!" The boy snapped his head around and saw a pink headed girl stomp toward him.

"Sakura what's going on? I woke up at the hospital and no one was there. Then there was that freaky lady that fell apart," Naruto asked as he was feeling uneasy about the confusing situation he was in.

"Let's go Naruto, we're going to be late." Sakura said as she turned around.

For a moment, Naruto was confused why Sakura ignored his question. He wondered if she was mad that he didn't bring back Sasuke. "Sakura, are you mad that I didn't bring back Sasuke?"

Sakura's replied was that she started to walk away. However, before she could move out of arms reach of Naruto, he grabbed her wrist. Like the last lady, Sakura too, fell apart. To Naruto, it looked like it was in slow motion. It was like he could see every piece of Sakura simply disconnect from herself then shatter into smaller bloody bits. After that happened, Naruto fell to his knees and threw up.

By the time, Naruto looked up, he saw people gather around him and stared at him as if he had done something wrong. "I didn't do anything! All I did was touch her!" The boy yelled. The crowds of people were unfazed and still looked at Naruto as if he was a murderer.

The demon container started to back away from the bloody mess then he bumped into a person behind him. Like all the things he had touched, it fell apart. When Naruto turned to see who fell apart, he saw Hinata. Then one by one, everyone in the crowd started to fall apart and for each person he saw, he saw a friend.

"Why? Why is this happening!" The distressed boy yelled. The sky started to darken and soon the blonde haired boy was alone and weeping.

* * *

Naruto suddenly awoke in a hospital bed. He sat up and noticed that he was in the a hospital gown and that he can hear activity outside his door that was associated with a noon time hospital activity. "Oh, it was only a nightmare?"

When Naruto looked around the room, he wasn't drawn to flowers on the table, but rather the interesting design of red lines that seem to coat everything around him and the room. "Freaky, what's with these red lines?" He scratched the surface of the red line on the table that held the flowers dedicated to his well being. Suddenly the table fell apart at the lines he could see and the vase of flowers hitting the floor with a loud smash. The boy look at the table for a few moments as the events started to clear up in his head, then he saw a nurse run into the room from the commotion. When Naruto saw the lady, what he saw was a mess of lines joining at a single point. The lady he saw seemed to be stuck at a state of falling apart at the lines and being perfectly fine. At this point, the boy screamed.

The large red fox in Naruto stirred awake. "It seems I was fortunate to be sealed in this container. Everything in this world has flaws. It seems the boy can see those flaws and see how fragile the world is."

**End of The Glass World**

AN: Shouldn't be too hard to figure out where I derived Naruto's new ability from. The next chapter will be about Naruto adjusting to his new outlook to life or at least his view to life.


	2. Chapter 1: Mystic Eyes

Fragile World

AN: I guess I'll continue this story a bit longer. I have a reasonable way to keep the story flowing as I've officially thought past this chapter. I think this'll be an interesting way to tie in this story. You'll get to see the Mystic Eyes at work.

**Chapter 1: The Mystic Eyes**

"Get away! Get away! Don't touch me, you'll fall apart like everyone else!" Naruto yelled frantically as he clumsily fell out of bed and crawled away from the nurse.

"Kimiko, get Tsunade!" A man garbed in white medical coat with black hair spiked up to defy gravity said as he rushed in the room. The doctor turned and started to slowly approach the frightened boy. "Now now, the lady was only trying to make sure you are all right and fine. You've been in a coma for a couple weeks."

"DON'T GET ANY CLOSER!" The doctor abruptly stopped. "I was only trying to make sure she would end up like that table over there."

The physician looked to where the table once was and saw it in pieces like some crazy person thought the table would make for some good firewood. "What in the…" The doctor muttered as he shook his head.

"Crazy ninjas." The doctor thought as he fingered the sedative in his pocket for occasions such as this. He encountered his fair share of paranoid ninja attacks in the hospital. The blonde boy start to mutter something about lines and points and how everything looks like it's falling apart then he turn his head toward the wall and just stared at it.

"Huh, is the floor really that soft?" The doctor also wondered as he noticed Naruto absentmindedly scratching at the floor with his index finger and making a small hole on the floor. Suddenly the doctor was reminded of the other various syringes that he kept in his medical coat, other various and more powerful drugs. The doctor went back to trying to calm Naruto down as he started to mentally figure out what sedative he might need. It wasn't long until Tsunade arrived with Jiraiya.

"What's going on?" Tsunade asked as she eyed the genin at the corner of the room.

"The kid just woke up, start saying stuff about things falling apart like that table over there."

"Wind chakra? But there isn't enough wind chakra to do this kind of damage." Jiraiya suddenly said as he inspected the blocks of wood. Then he noticed the strange scratching noise and saw Naruto digging his finger into the floor.

"That's definitely wind chakra, but how is he using it instinctively like that?" The old sage thought to himself. "Is that a bloodline? Minato never had anything like THIS."

"Naruto, look at me. Tell me what's wrong." Tsunade said as she started to approach Naruto.

The boy took one glance then quick looked back at the wall like he had seen something grotesque and horrifying. "Don't come any closer. I could handling it if you or ero-sennin fell apart like… like.."

"The table?" Jiraiya answered as the boy nodded. "What's this about lines?"

"I can see lines everywhere, even you have them. Everything seems like it going to fall apart at these lines. Even when I close my eyes, I can still see them!" Naruto yelled as he covered his eyes with his hands in a desperate attempt shield him from the world. "I can still see it! I can still see it!"

Jiraiya picked up the clipboard attached to the bed that contained medical information of the disturbed boy. "C'mon Naruto, I'm sure the table was getting old and should've been replaced a while hold this, it won't fall apart." The sennin handed the clipboard to Naruto.

A few moments passed as blonde boy held on the clipboard and visually inspected it. Naruto visibly calmed down and he traced along a imperfection of the clipboard, an imperfection that he could only see. Jiraiya noticed that Naruto's finger was coated with wind chakra and was actually scratching the board. Suddenly, the board fell apart at the traced location. Naruto shouted in fright as he threw the two pieces away from him.

"Calm down, Naruto. You're just channeling chakra into your hands to…" Jiraiya suddenly stopped and heard a cracking noise. Looking down at the two pieces of clipboard dissolving into smaller pieces, he thought, "Okay, What the hell? If this is a bloodline, I've never heard anything like this. Instinctive Wind Chakra, sure, but breaking something apart in small pieces with a small cut…"

"It's the lines. The lines are doing this! If I can't see these lines then…" Naruto muttered as he started to turn his hands toward his eyes.

"I definitely don't like that train of thought," Tsunade thought as she rushed forward and grabbed Naruto's wrists.

"Let me go! I can't take these lines anymore!" The boy struggled against the iron hold that Tsunade had. With both her hands full, the legendary medic ninja could do much but to drag the boy. Jiraiya was about to help until a white blur shot toward the boy with some sort of weapon on hand.

"FUJIMURA SURPRISE COMBO!" The doctor that was watching the entire scene shot forward with amazingly god like dexterity and emptied a syringe with questionable substance into the poor boy. With a couple of seconds, the boy collapsed in a peaceful slumber. Shocked by the boldness of the action, Tsunade just blinked at the doctor. "What, he's calm now isn't he?"

"What did you inject him with?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the doctor as he pulled out a couple of glass containers with clear substances.

"A little bit of A, a little bit of B, and a whole lot of C," the doctor motioned to the couple of jars, in particular the large container that seemed to be bubbling on the spot. "I figured as soon as the boy started to sprout out geometry and stuff that he was really going off on the deep end. I would also recommend to NOT teach ninja math as you would be surprise how many patients I get from serious trauma about shapes. By the way he'll out for good 10 hours."

"Why are you keeping all of these… sedative on you?" Tsunade asked as the doctor looked blankly at her.

"Hokage-sama, it's a ninja hospital." The doctor deadpanned.

"Fujimura, like mad ALCHEMIST Fujimura?" Tsunade realized. "I thought I had the medical staff confiscate all the drugs you kept subduing our ninja with, even if they were perfectly fine."

"Well, I wouldn't really agree with the alchemist part…" Fujimura muttered as he walked out of the room. "And lady, I have stashes EVERYWHERE."

Tsunade sigh and started rubbing her temples from the impending headache resulting from both current events and the impeding even of ninja complaints about the quack. "Jiraiya, you're going to need to seal the chakra that is exiting his hands and tie up his hands so that he won't gouge his eyes out."

Never having a good look at Naruto's eyes, Tsunade open his eye lids and saw that the eyes had a purple hue and a ring of pink on the iris surrounding the pupil. It was fading in and out rapidly giving the sign that whatever bloodline that the boy now had, it wasn't stable yet. "Whatever this bloodline is, I need you to investigate."

* * *

Team 10 was currently dining at the meat grill. Ino thought that by inviting Sakura to lunch that it would help cheer up Sakura up a bit and keep her mind away from her team. It didn't turn out as planned as Chouji just kept stuffing his face and Shikamaru was eating and staring out of the window at some clouds. Sakura haven't even taken a bit even though she agreed (more like dragged against will).

With a grunt of frustration, Ino decided to get the conversation to start. "Look Sakura, I'm sure Naruto would be fine soon. It not like anything could really keep him down."

"But…"

"Are you still blaming yourself for this? It wasn't your fault Sasuke betrayed the village, it was because of Orochimaru. You couldn't have known what that guy did to Sasuke would do this."

"Yeah, you're right…" The remaining member of Team 7 was still not completely convince as she started to reach for some food.

"Well at least that's a start." Thought Ino. "Look we'll go and visit Naruto this afternoon, who knows, we might get some good news. Right guys?"

Apparently, the other two guys are still eating or looking at clouds to even pay attention to the cue Ino gave. Uncomfortable silence and a few moments later with a lot of head slapping and foot stomping and everyone was agreeing. Either they were agreeing that today's trip to the hospital would yield good news about Naruto or Ino was too violent was still left to be determined.

"Troublesome," a voice mutter its opinion.

* * *

Recognizing the pipes and bad sewer system that Naruto woke up at, he concluded that he was in his mind. In front of him is the large cage with a giant fox staring at him. Looking at the fox, Naruto could see the same lines that he could see when he was awake. For a split second, Naruto wanted to back away from the lines that seem to still coat everything, but he stopped when he heard the fox start chuckling.

"So the brat finally arrives to see me? Tell me, what do you see? Do you see the world differently now?" Kyuubi started out while grinning.

Naruto started to have an epiphany about his new perception. "You damn fox! You gave me this… this," the boy couldn't finish his sentence as anger started to overwhelm him. In his mind, the fox gave him this ability from the result of his last fight and was somehow torturing him with this newfound sight.

"Perception? Eye? Your stupidity?" Kyuubi guessed. "I gave you none of those. Those are all your fault."

"Stupidity… fuck you," raged Naruto. "I think you still know what I have! Tell me or I'll destroy you!"

"Heh, in all the millennia of knowledge I have by consuming magus and people. I DO know what you have. That ability of yours hasn't manifested in centuries. Destroy me you say? Tell me, what do you see when you look at me?"

Naruto studied the biju's form for a while. He can see the lines and dots that make up the fox, but he could also see it connected to the prison which is also connected toward himself. "What the hell is this?"

"As much as you hate it boy, YOU CAN'T DESTROY ME without KILLING YOURSELF. That's the price you pay for being a demon vessel." The fox maliciously smiled. "However, you being my JAILOR, I'll indulge you a bit with what you have. Whatever monkey root you've come from, they installed an ability in your blood to instinctively channel elemental chakra upon activation of the Mystic Eyes. Why they did this, probably to hide their true superiority from everyone or to add more power to the bloodline. Well, it doesn't matter they all taste the same especially that last one decades ago."

"Ugh, bastard fox. Wait, decades ago. I thought you said the ability didn't manifest centuries ago." Naruto pointed out.

"Oh ho, so the brat has a brain. Thought we lost that in the last fight or was it when you were born?"

"Fuck you!"

" YOUR ability hasn't manifested in centuries, but your ancestors had varying Mystic Eyes. Your eyes are different, they are much, much more powerful." The Kyuubi said. "Which is why I'm glad I'm link to this container now." The fox thought to himself.

"Different, how?" Completely confused about this sudden history lesson that the ancient fox started explaining.

"Your ancestors had psychic ability with the eyes, but not once in centuries could they see what you can see. You can see that everything in creation has a flaw. Humans DON'T even need to be mentioned. Air, intent, and even time and you can cut it all down with those eyes." Kyuubi cryptically said.

"Those eyes are called the Mystic Eyes of—Well, he'll figure it out." Kyuubi ending as the boy disappeared in mid sentence. "Perhaps, I may even get to see the Spiral of Origin through the eyes of my container."

* * *

"Ugh, my aching head," The once sleeping boy awoke.

"Well, didn't expect you to wake up earlier. You beat my prediction by 5 hours. 5 HOURS. Anyways it's expected to have a splitting headache, I did drug you up with a whole lot of mystery substance C." The doctor said as he finished checking Naruto's pulse then scribbled something down on his clipboard. "Well, how are you feeling, are you going to go crazy on me?"

"No… ugh, I think I'm going to be sick," Naruto said as he feels like he's going to hurl soon.

"Oh don't worry, it'll fade away soon." Dr. Fujimura said as he check marked 'Not Crazy' on Naruto's medical record. "Oh that blindfold is there for something about 'ninja secrecy', whatever the hell that's about. Those gloves are there to stop you from hurting yourself."

The jinchuuriki noticed that the 'gloves' were just a giant cast on his hands. "Ugh, I can still see you and the lines around." The doctor slowly edged away and started reaching into his pocket.

"At least it isn't as bad as it was before." A soft sigh could be heard from the paranoid doctor as he check marked 'Able to have visitors'. With the blindfold on, Naruto couldn't see the outline of people suddenly fall apart, but it still bothers him that he could see the lines that govern the fate of a person.

"Check up is done. I think you'll be released from the hospital tomorrow after the Godaime talks with you." The 'Alchemist' said as he exited the room. Softly outside the room, "Okay, you guys can see him now. Doesn't look like his head is hurting too much, just don't mention anything about geometry. I don't want to come back in there and dope him up again."

Sakura and Team 10 entered the room. "What the hell was that about?" Ino said to no one in particular.

"Hey Naruto, what's with the blindfold and hands?" Shikimaru asked as he moved around the room and observed the mysterious half inch deep hole on the ground.

"Oh, I just woke up with this on. The doctor wouldn't tell me why, same with the gloves." Naruto lied as he knew exactly why he had them.

"Weird, how does he know where to turn his head to face me." The entire time Shikimaru was silent, he moved across the room to the window and back, noting that the boy in the bed was still watching him.

"Shikimaru… How is everyone else?" The boy asked.

"You are the last one that needs to recover, really. Idiot, you really had me worried. It would've been really troublesome if you didn't wake up."

"Pfft, I wouldn't go down from something like this." Naruto declared as he grinned.

"Naruto…" Sakura started, she had planned to apologize to Naruto for having to make that promise.

"Sakura… Don't worry I'll bring him back for sure! It's a promise!" The boy said as he put up the best encouraging smile he could muster.

Sakura shook her head as she said, "No Naruto, WE'LL both go out and bring him back." Silently in her head that she decided since Naruto won't back down from this that she would become stronger so that he wouldn't have to go at it alone again.

"I need some sleep. Whatever that doctor gave me, I still feel sick." Plus, he didn't want to see his friends covered in red lines any longer.

"First time I hear you wanting to sleep in the hospital and not go out to get Ramen. Just don't get bothered by the ghost that wanders this hospital as you sleep at the night." Ino said jokingly.

"G-Ghost?" the boy asked as his skin paled considerably. At the rate his skin was losing pigmentation, he might beat Orochimaru.

"Yeah, you know the one that takes people to the roof to get spirited away? Well, it's time we go." Ino said as she and the others left the room.

As they were leaving the room, they could hear Naruto yell, "Guys? Guys! Take me with you!"

"You know Ino, that was pretty mean," Chouji put out through his chip munching.

In the distance they could hear a doctor yell, "What are you yelling for! Ghost? Damn it, I just put your file away too. That's it, time for a peaceful rest for the next couple of hours." Then the door slammed shut. Apparently the blonde boy was getting abused by drugs all day today.

"Uh, I'll apologize tomorrow."

"Troublesome…"

After the ghost fiasco, Naruto was feeling good and calm. Well, after he was drugged up with Morphine, it was hard to look serious to the world now. It took until late in the evening when he finally started to get some sleep. He suddenly woke to the sound of soft crying coming from nearby.

Naruto paled and was about to scream but then notice what was causing that sound. It seemed a small girl snuck into his room and was crying at the side of his bed. Even though he couldn't' see the details of the girl, he knew that she was crying. "Niichan… I'm scared…" The child said.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong," Naruto asked softely.

The small girl looked up and brightened up to the boy that took notice to her. "There's… a scary monster around and… and… I can't find Niichan!" The girl started to cry again.

"Hey, don't cry. I'll stay near you. Monsters are scared of Uzumaki Naruto and I'll help you find your brother. Dattebayo!" the boy assured the small kid. The hospital is quiet, Naruto assumed it's late in the night. The girl probably thought the shadows from the doctors and weird noises were monsters.

"Thank you mister!" the girl said, instantly happy to hear the words of encouragement from the blonde.

With a little bit of effort and shakely standing up from the bed, Naruto approached the door. Fumbling with his 'gloves', he managed to open the door. "Okay, let's go to where you last saw your brother."

* * *

In a Fourth's mansion, Jiraiya and Kakashi were searching through the study. Both of them haven't been back in this mansion since the death of the owner as the place brought back memories. They were currently searching for clues to Naruto's sudden bloodline.

"I know Minato went out to research his heritage when he was still alive. If we don't find anything here, we're going to have to search Whirlpool." The sennin commented as he weeded his way through books and scrolls alike. "Did you get anything out of the journal that you found hidden in his desk?"

"No, but something is strange about this. Half the pages are blank." Kakashi said. The white hair jounin lifted his forehead protector and tried to see if there was an illusion across the book. His eye was suddenly blinded by the book and he quickly closed his eye. "Something is definitely up with this journal."

"Let me see that," Jiraiya said as he took the old journal from the Jounin. "Well, I'll be. I remember helping Minato build this. It was an impressive privacy seal afterall. Give me a moment, I'll open this right up."

Rubbing his eye Kakashi said, "I can tell, I was blinded by the impressiveness of it."

A few moments later, the toad sage dispelled the seals protecting the book. Flipping through the pages, Jiraiya found something rather interesting. "This book has the details on the Hiraishin. Version one worked under the principle of reverse summon."

"I thought we knew something like that already," Kakashi asked as he was familiar with the Fourth's technique when he seen it in action the many times he used it. The jounin knew the concept, but it was ridiculously hard to master, if done wrong he could lose a limb or worse.

"Well version two was completely different. The kunai used for the Hiraishin Version Two wasn't necessary. The reason why is that Minato also had special eyes that allowed him to see 'currents' of fast moving space. It was far faster than the usual Hiraishin and allowed him to act faster than the enemy especially when he was using his eyes that lightning chakra was boosting his reflexes to abnormal levels. It seems using the eyes allow for instinctive elemental chakra usage."

"This doesn't say anything about lines that Naruto sees though."

"No, but I'm getting there." Jiraiya said as he flipped though more pages. " Ah, it seems that this is getting hard to read. Seems that I couldn't complete unseal this book some of these words are illegible. Well this is still readable, the clan had 'Mystic Eyes' with 'circuits' ingrained through their blood. Something about the duty to kill the uncommon and that the ability of the eyes can be different each generation. Hmm, after the Sage of the Six Paths, the clan was threatened by an organization led by a… magus? Jashin?"

"I heard of the cult of Jashin, but what could this mean?" Kakashi wondered.

"Well it seems that Minato's lineage started crafting a reflex in conjunction to the eyes to allow instant elemental manipulation as a defense against Jashin when he could counter the natural abilities of the eyes. It didn't matter as when the magus attacked when the clan was fully assembled and led a creature of immense destructive power into the clan. Apparently, few survived, but Minato doesn't have any idea where the rest are at. Well this is about as much as I can get from this until I can unseal the book completely."

"So the bloodline is called Mystic Eyes and it can have different abilities and we still don't know the clan's name?"

"Pretty much, the wording was too illegible to read unless I reverse the seals more. This Jashin reference bothers me though. The cultist revered him as a god that grants immortality. This journal proves that this god is real or at the very least a powerful individual."

Suddenly Jiraiya swore as the book dropped to the floor, bathed in blue flames. After stamping out the fire, all that had remained of the book was small pieces of ash. "Shit, I should've realized that this book would be guarded by a trap. At least my seals acted as a delay before setting the book off. Let's report back to Tsunade, we at least have a clue as to what ability Naruto has."

* * *

The hallways of the hospital were abnormally quiet and unnerving. Walking down them was Naruto and a girl who was clutching a part of Naruto's hospital gown. "Shit, this blindfold is making it harder to see down this hallway." Naruto thought as he navigated the hallway. Right now, the boy was navigating aimlessly as the girl he was helping didn't exactly know where she last saw her brother.

"Maybe if I get another doctor to help…" the boy though as he wandered near what he thought to be a doctor's office.

"Gotta drug them all….zZzZzZz" Naruto definitely recognized the voice and he definitely did not want his help. Naruto passed the room as quickly as he can with the girl in tow.

"Hey, do you know why your brother was in the hospital?" Naruto kindly asked.

"He was here to read a book to me, it got really late and then the really mean lady came by and told my brother to get out. He promised that he'd come back and read the rest of the book." The little girl pouted at the end about the 'mean lady'. "Oh, I remember, he said he'll sneak in from the roof. I wanted him to come back soon because my stomach started hurting again and I started feeling sleepy."

Taking the message, the boy and girl headed to the roof. As soon as they arrived on the roof, Naruto noticed a figure on the roof. "Hey are you this," the boy paused then mentally kicked himself for not getting the girl's name. "… kid's brother."

The figure turned toward the two and the roof seemed to be blanketed in a field of uneasiness. "Okay, I'm getting a bad feeling about this…" True to his feeling, the girl he was with clutch on his gown harder. He could hear her say, "M-Monster…"

Before the blindfolded boy could mentally process that his ninja reflexes kicked in as he turned his head. Figure that was twenty feet away was now in his face and definitely was not friendly as Naruto took note of two things. First, the most dangerous thing was that whatever is attack the boy, morphed a wicked looking claws in both hands and was currently swinging it's right hand toward the ninja's body. Second, up close, Naruto can make out some details past his blindfold or there lack of. It looked like he was fighting a freakin' mannequin with wicked looking claws. So Naruto's more sensible ninja training took in, deck the guy now and jump away before the claws could eviscerate you.

Naruto's punch knocked the figure away and consequently broke the cast glove. Naruto picked up the girl and jumped back to get some distance from his opponent. "Run and hide." Naruto whispered to the girl as he free his other hand by scratching the lines.

"Oy! I don't know what the hell you are, but no monster messes with Uzumaki Naruto especially if they have huge ass claws…. And suddenly grew a mouth… with lots of pointy teeth… Oh hell!" Naruto dodged rolled to the side as the monster suddenly burst forward intending for a quick decapitation.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Ten clones appeared and surrounded the monster. The creature flailed its limbs around and the as clone dodged. 3 of the clones weren't very lucky and got claws to the face, but for a moment the clones stopped the movement. Using the moment of defenselessness, two clones kicked the monster in the air. Two more clones that jumped into the air knocked the creature down toward the original who had prepped up an attack.

"RASENGAN!" the monster couldn't react as a ball of swirling chakra collided with it and tore it to shreds on the spot. "Weird, that hasn't happened before."

"Wow, that was cool! You're like that ninja in that book that Oniichan was reading." The impressed girl said as she poked her head through the opening of the door on the roof. "Mister! Watch out!"

As quick as it disappeared, it reappeared in front of Naruto with its claws. Dropping down to the ground to avoid the deathblow, Naruto realized that he was in some deep shit now. He was on the ground with no mobility and another claw strike was rapidly closing on his heart. Acting fast as he could with new found adrenaline in his veins, he traced the lines on both legs of the creature and rolled into them.

That allowed Naruto to narrowly avoid the blow as both legs of his adversary dissolved into nothingness. "Shit, that was close," breathed Naruto as he stood up. The creature was now crawling toward the girl as it sensed that Naruto is too much for it to handle. "Oh no you don't."

The boy dashed toward the fallen creature and just as the boy approached, it swung a clawed hand wildly at the ninja. Before it could land a blow, Naruto caught it with one arm and stabbed toward the monster at shining red point that was located at the center of the back. Naruto winced as the monster made a bloodcurdling scream before it exploded in a giant flash of light. Standing at the spot the monster disappeared at the winner of the battle breathe in deep and yelled, "Uzumaki Naruto doesn't lose, especially to puppet… monster… things, dattebayo!"

The girl ran up and started hugging the boy. She looked up and her eyes had the look of hero worship. "You're exactly like that Ninja in that book!"

"Thanks, I guess." Naruto then thought to himself. "I got to get a copy of that book, it must be cool if I'm like that hero she keeps mentioning."

After exiting the roof, Naruto realized he should ask the girl's name. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Fujimura Kimiko!" Naruto smacked his head. This is probably the doctor's daughter. The boy led the child to the room where the doctor was at. Kimiko yelp in delight as she started nudging at the doctor. "Oniichan, wake up! You got to read me the rest of the book!"

Naruto smiled as he hurried back to his room to get the rest of the night's sleep. It was a hectic night and he was getting sleepy. With a yawn, he quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

"Brat! Wake up!" A female voice called out. Bolting straight up, he turned his head to the voice.

"Old hag! I was just having some nice sleep!" Naruto yelled before he was hit lightly over the head for the old hag comment.

"At least you're in better condition today. Do you want to take that blindfold off?" Tsunade said as she eyed that fact that Naruto doesn't have casts that sealed his hands. "And what happened to the seals on your hands?"

"Oh, I got into a fight with this monster on the roof. It was really, really weird too; no one heard the scream the thing made before it died when I came back down from the fight. I think the doctor drugged them all up because I would've definitely heard something like that. And I think the forest of death might be breeding those things because I know for a fact that I never saw anything like that in Konoha. Well, I'll take this blindfold off. Hopefully it the world won't look so bad."

Tsunade thought what the young ninja said. She entered from the roof today and saw that there was nothing amiss other than the area was saturated in chakra. She dismissed it as a ninja getting exercise while still recuperating from a mission. Now, this raises a question, what did he battle? No blood, no body parts, nothing. It is like the boy fought an imaginary foe.

Naruto turned his head down disgust as he still seeing the vision of everything falling apart. "I.. guess… I'll deal with this. It's bad but it was horrible like before. I'm not going to let something like this let me down, dattebayo!."

Tsunade mentally sighed in relief. He was using his trademark phrase again. "Hold still, let me check your eyes." Tsunade looked into the eyes and noticed that they're no longer flickering. It was permanently staying blue and pink color. "Brat, stop channeling chakra into your eyes."

"What are you talking about, I'm not even channeling chakra anywhere?"

"I'll be back," Tsunade said as she exited the room. She started thinking about getting a Hyuuga to check Naruto's eyes, but who could she use that wouldn't spill the secrets to this new bloodline or wouldn't use Naruto for their own personal agenda? Wait, was a lavender colored hair girl with flowers in hand. "Oh I could use her."

Stepping into the path of the Hyuuga, the said girl squeaked in fright. "Hinata, was it? What you're about to do is going to be an S-Class mission and secret."

"H-H-Hokage-sama, how does delivering flowers turn into an S-Class mission.?" Tsunade face-palmed and shook her head before explaining the situaton to the Hyuuga.

Walking into the room, Hinata was greeted by Naruto. "Oh hey, Hinata." Then he abruptly looked away. Even though Hinata was a dark and weird girl, she was really nice person. She didn't have to be dismembered by his mind's eye. Before walking in the room, Hinata had the Byakugan active. She was analysis the eyes that Naruto has. She was completely mesmerized by them. It held a very vibrant shade of violet and pink, even the normal blue seems like it was shining.

"Pretty…" Hinata started before she was pulled out of the room despite the protesting Naruto.

"What did you see?" Tsunade asked after giving time for the Hyuuga to recover.

"He… really isn't channeling chakra to his eyes." The timid girl said. "A-n-no, what's with N-N-Naruto's eyes?"

The Mystic Eyes is chakra-less? Then why hasn't Minato used it constantly or is Naruto's different? There are too many questions about the nature and ability of the eyes, much less the history behind them. Tsunade frown at the afterthought of what they did know of the history. It's best if Naruto didn't know the name of the eyes and that it be kept secret. She DID NOT want Jashin Cultists hunting down Naruto with the Akatsuki on top of it. Too bad for Naruto, he technically has both.

"Naruto's eyes is a part of his bloodline, that all you need to know. For now, he can't accept visitors until we hid it. Hinata, go and buy some goggles for Naruto." Tsunade finally said as she entered back into the room to tell him to keep the eyes a secret.

"Why do I have to keep it a secret?" Naruto asked.

"So, other villages don't get the bright idea to hunt you don't for your eyes." Tsunade explained as Naruto stayed quiet about the reason. He knew that she was right, and then frowned when he was reminded about Sasuke. "As soon as Hinata gets back with goggles, you can leave the hospital." With that, Tsunade left as she started to think about where possible sources of information about the bloodline could be found.

"Excuse me, oh you're already awake. Time for a daily check up." Doctor Fujimura dully said as he walked in.

"Did you read the rest of the book to your daughter?" Naruto asked. "Plus what was the title to the book, I want to read it. It has some super awesome ninja in it right?"

"What are you talking about? I don't have a daughter?" the doctor said, while starting to mark in the comments that his patient might be suffering hallucinations from excessive drug usage.

"Did I get that wrong? Was it a niece or relative? You know Kimiko, dattebayo!" Once Kimiko's name was heard, the doctor froze. Fujimura suddenly thought that a nurse or doctor decided to prank him. Well, it's not going to work on him.

"I'll tell you what, if you keep this quiet and don't mention Kimiko then I won't drug you excessively." The doctor threatened as Naruto muted gulped and nodded. "As a bonus, I'll even mark down that you're in perfect health. Yep, no trace of insanity what so ever."

Just before the quack left, "Oh, the book was called The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja. It's a great book, Kimiko loved it."

"Geez, I don't know what that guy's problem is." Naruto complained, once he was sure the doctor was out of hearing.

In the hallway, the doctor stopped and pulled a photo out of his coat. It had a picture of him when he was younger in a hospital room with a small girl on the hospital bed. The picture was old and was fading. "Has it been ten years already? She was the reason why I became a doctor. I think it's time I read her the last chapter to the book."

Getting the attention the nearest nurse, "Hey, tell the other doctors I'll be taking a sick leave today."

"But doctor, who's going to subdue the patient in 202 if he wakes up in a frenzy again or keep the patient in 305 calm or rather all the paranoid ninja calm?"

The doctor shrugged and said, "I'm sure they'll figure something out. If they can get a medical degree then they can expertly subdue the best paranoid ninja."

"Kakashi?"

"He doesn't count, he lost his paranoia a long time ago. I should know, I've check his membrane." The doctor said before leaving to the graveyard with book in hand.

"That doesn't even make sense."

Through out, had Naruto took off his blindfold tonight. We would've passed out in fright of a little ghost girl. It would be a while, until Naruto would find out that he can wipe out the metaphysical out of existence. For now, Naruto would be constrained to thinking that ghosts are unkillable ectoplasmic entities out to suck his soul out.

**End Chapter 1: Mystic Eyes**

AN: I didn't think the Jashin would be useful as a antagonist until I started thinking about it. Now you know that Naruto has a relative obscure bloodline, but his ability still leaves questions as to the full extent of the ability. Not only that, but are there any more Mystic Eye users left. I gave a couple more clues before the full name of the eyes is released. Couple of ideas that I have but knew I couldn't spin it right which I aptly put in as short stories.

* * *

**Oneshot: Naruto, The Luck Ninja**

They say that sixty percent of statistics are made up on the spot. Unfortunately luck is a factor in creates a skewed normal distribution of random chance. For Naruto, his luck seems to be an anomaly to the universe. He appears to be so lucky that it's unfair, in fact, so unfair that Naruto is secretly modifying luck to suit his needs. In other words, this crazy lucky ninja has the ability to makes the statistically impossible, possible!

Vs. Haku

"Dobe, It's impossible to hit this guy when he's moving this fast!" Sasuke declared as he dodge needle after needle. If he paid attention, he'd notice that Naruto was swaying in seemingly random ways and the needle weren't even hitting him. In fact, after hurling needles at for some time, Haku threw them at Naruto's stationary legs. Even that didn't work, whatever needles that Sasuke pulled out of his body that hit him he threw aside. Those needles bounced a seemingly impossible path and intercept the needles aimed at the blonde boy's legs.

Eventually Naruto got bored and randomly threw a kunai at a mirror. It hit the one point where the mirror was the weakest and exploded then started a chain reaction of the shard of every other mirror hitting the adjacent mirror's weak point. At the end of the carnage, Sasuke just stared at the unbelievable scene.

"Uh… Lucky Throw?" Was the only reply the blond boy had.

* * *

**Oneshot: Nara Shikimaru, The Unlucky Ninja**

Shikimaru was a brilliant child. He figured that he could drop out of the academy so that all he had to do was tend deer. Unfortunately, that plan failed. It seem some student swapped the final exam papers and thought Shikimaru's exam was the best one. Too bad that kid didn't see the pineapple haired kid sleep though the entire thing. The Taijutsu exam, his opponent tripped himself to submission. How does that happen? The jutsu exam? Oh he was exempt, EXEMPT. That's even worst. It was like something was out to get him.

Little did he know, someone named Asuma was forcing this kid to pass. A year back, he gave the kid a puzzle to solve. He specifically crafted the puzzle to be unsolvable, the only real solution was to figure out that the puzzle was unsolvable. The IQ was based on how long it took, if ever.

Shikimaru knew that the puzzle was unsolvable right from the start. If he randomly played with it for a while, then this guy would get off his back indefinitely so he can go back to looking at the clouds. Picking it up with his right hand and within ten seconds he had solved it.

The Jounin was astonished. How the hell do you solve a puzzle that isn't solvable? We had seals crafted in the puzzle to make sure it can't be solved. Then it dawned on the bewildered Jounin, when he inspected the puzzle, the seals were DESTROYED. Whatever it takes, this boy is passing the exam no matter what.

So, when Shikimaru passed the exam and saw his jounin teacher. He had only one phrase.

"Fukou da!" (Such Misfortune!)


	3. Chapter 2: Of Rice and Demons

**Fragile World**

**Chapter 2: Of Rice and Demons**

It was noon when Naruto was finally released from the hospital. The goggles that Hinata found where orange in color and covered the shading of the blonde boy's eyes completely while letting him see naturally. Personally, he thought the goggles were awesome and by far one of the best gifts he'd gotten. When he put the goggles on, he noticed a difference with the new vision he got. It seems the goggles could block most of the lines that Naruto could see, possibly due to the tinted color of the lenses.

"First Ramen, then I'm going to train," Naruto told himself as his addiction to ramen started to kick in, more specifically he's starting to feel the withdrawal symptoms associated by the earthly drug. One of the symptoms was to not pay attention to the surrounding as he bumped into a girl who was also off in her own little world.

"Oh sorry… Sakura-chan?" Naruto said as he helped the girl up.

" Naruto? You're out of the hospital now? What's with those goggles?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, the old lady said I was fine and these goggles are cool. Hinata-chan gave it to me as a present."

"Uh, they look good on you," Sakura said with questionable assurance. In her head, the other personality was say, "Oh god, why orange!"

"Say I'm about to go get some ramen, do you want to go with?" The blonde boy half asked and half pleaded.

The pink haired girl shook her head. "No, I have some things to do." As she walked past the apparently mentally crushed blonde boy, she said, "Oh, Naruto. I'll do my best." Mentally, she made the list of things she needed to bring with her when she left the village tonight to find Sasuke. She would not be a burden to Naruto.

"Do your best? What does that mean?" the normally cheery boy questioned to himself as he stared at the girl leaving. Suddenly, he averts his gaze. "Ugh, looks like I can't stare at one thing for too long with these goggles on. More lines appear on something if I stare at it long enough."

* * *

At the ramen stand, a white cloaked man was eating ramen with a bag next to his stool. He was recalling the events when he was at the hospital earlier and what he felt over there. One of the doctors hired him to bless the place and ward off vengeful spirits. Being the monk he was, he accepted a low fee as he was stopping by Konoha this morning to get his staff fixed.

"The doctor was damn lucky that he was walking out to visit the graveyard today and intercepted me when I was dropping off my staff for repair." The monk thought as a young boy clad in orange shouted wildly for a bowl of ramen.

As the monk visited the hospital, he noticed that there was quite the concentration of dark emotions in the place. He could feel the cries of despair of the people that died without concluding their goals in life. While he was taken aback by the amount, he realized it was normal when he found out it was a ninja hospital. First off he started to perform his rituals at the front door to ward against the vengeful and to purify the lingering dark emotions. He continued to do this as he worked his way around the hospital.

"I wouldn't be surprised that a vengeful spirit started to materialize from all the dark emotions emitted from the place. Everyone was getting uneasy feelings from the strong spiritual residue." True enough, he had to dodge a couple ninja's that was randomly throwing object or sometimes a kunai. When he arrived to the roof, it was different. "It was like a…"

"Then I rolled through the feet! It was so close!"

"Spiritual battle…" The man continued to think but was slowly losing when the boy next to him started to exaggerate his story using his arms while occasionally slurping his bowl of ramen.

"Then I stabbed it! It exploded in a large explosion!" the boy enthusiastically shared with a stabbing motion. Unfortunately, when he retracted his hand he bumped into the man next to him.

"Oy, brat, I'm trying to think here! And eat!" The monk yelled as he was holding some noodles that dropped when he was eating. The monk turned to look at the boy to give his best glare when he noticed that there was ten bowls piled up next to his target. "What the hell? Are you some sort of glutton demon?"

Scratching the back of his head, "hehehe, sorry mister. Glutton demon?" Naruto definite been called a demon brat or glutton for ramen, but no one has called him both at the same time.

"You know, one of the seven deadly demon types that devour everything?" Noticing the boy's blank face the monk sighed, "Nevermind."

"Hey mister, I haven't seen you around before?" Naruto asked as he was curious where the man came from especially since he was dressed differently.

"Oh, I was coming from the Land of Wind for a village northeast of Konoha. I need to do some exorcise work."

"Exorcise work? What's that?"

The monk noted that the boy was now looking around the monk now, but not directly at him. "Peculiar, but the boy can't be a demon or vengeful spirit. He's radiating too much positive energy to do so." The monk thought before replying.

"Didn't your parent tell you about monsters and monks purifying spirits?" Immediately the atmosphere turned darker.

"I never knew my parents, they died when I was born."

Sensing the attitude change, the monk replied in hopes to cheer the boy up. "Oh sorry, if it makes you feel any better, my parents died at when I was young too. They died protecting me from harm and loved me to their last breathe. I'm sure your parents loved you too and would be proud of you if they saw you today."

The yellow haired boy smiled, "Thank mister, so you fight demons and ghosts?" Naruto hasn't met any monk that actively battled ghosts. It would be nice to make friends with one in case he wanted someone to purify ghost. Ghosts were too scary for the young ninja to battle, best to leave it to professionals. Yeah, the professionals.

"Oh, interested in my job? I admit, I might need an apprentice and you certainly fit the bill. And to answer the question, yes I fight ghosts and demons. That's what exorcists do."

"Sorry, mister…"

"Fujino Akira."

"Mister Fujino, I, Uzumaki Naruto, am going to be Hokage one day!"

"Figure, all the kids in the ninja village wants to be ninjas. Hell, at this rate, exorcism is going to die out and demons will overrun the world." The exorcist commented quietly.

"Well kid, you got to be a ninja first before you say that."

"What are you talking about, I am a ninja, dattebayo!"

"Ninja usually have a forehead protector with their symbol on it." The monk commented as he finished his meal.

"What are you talking about, my forehead protector is on my…" Noticing that he forgot it at the hospital, the boy paid his meals and quickly ran out. "Gotta go, thanks for talking to me!"

Akira waved at the boy before turning to the chef. "Hey chef, what do you know about Keiko Village? I got some business over there."

* * *

After retrieving his forehead protector, Naruto was now in a training area. He did his customary training exercises before stopping and stared at a tree. "If I'm going to not let this ability to bother me, I will learn what all these lines mean." Taking off his goggles and pulling out a kunai, he walked up to the tree.

Looking at one of the branches overhead, he could see all the lines that coated the tree limb. Walking up the tree, he inspected all the lines of the branch he was looking at. Cutting one of the lines, the branch separated from the tree, but it didn't fall apart. Naruto then looked at another branch, studied it and cut. It did the same thing the last branch did. "Hmm, looks like what line I think will make the tree fall apart the way I want it will do that. So if I did this…" Naruto went to another branch and cut a line. The branch cut itself apart to smaller pieces. It seemed that while blonde boy didn't know exactly how the ability work, it seemed to follow his gut feeling.

The boy looked down the tree and saw a bright point. Jumping down, he studied the point then pierced it with his kunai. The boy didn't know what to expect, so he jumped back in surprised when all the leaves of the tree fell off and the tree withered then fell apart. "So hitting a point kill something."

"Oh ho, so this is what you're doing brat!" The white haired sennin made himself known as the boy turned and looked. "What did you find out about the doujutsu?"

The training boy put his goggles back on, "Well, hitting lines or points will cut something off or kill it. That's about it."

"Hmm, I guess you'll learn more if you keep experimenting." Jiraiya tossed a blindfold to Naruto. "Here, check if you can see through that. I put some seals on it to prevent someone with an eye ability like the Byakugan to see through it."

Putting on the blindfold, Naruto shook his head. "No good, I can still see through it."

Jiraiya thought, "Those eyes don't use chakra to sense these lines." Then an idea sparked on the sennin.

"Naruto, show me where to stab this tree to kill it?"

After taking off the blindfold, Naruto pointed at a seemingly random spot where the death point was at. Jiraiya stabbed at it, but nothing happened. "Huh, I was sure that was the point." The boy inspected the point and saw it was pierced, but something was telling him that he was the only one that could pierce it. Taking a hold of a kunai, Naruto stabbed at it and the tree withered away.

"Seems, you're the only one that can do that. Strange, so it's beyond the understanding of chakra. It's not some sort of advanced tenketsu nor deals with the chakra system. It's like you can sense the point where an object is fated to die. Naruto see if you clones can do it."

Naruto obeyed his sensei and made a clone. The clone walked up to the tree that the original was staring at and pierced the point then the tree promptly fell apart. "Looks like it works. I can see the lines on my clone too."

With a puff of smoke from the clone dispersing, Jiraiya commanded, "Kick that tree like you would attack an enemy."

"Bossy bastard…" Naruto mumbled. The boy walked up to the tree and simply kicked it. He yelled in shock when the tree had a sizable dent. He hadn't planned for that to happen.

"Looks like that's the instinctive wind manipulation. You're able to convert chakra into wind and send a compressed air blast when you punch or kick something."

"Wind manipul-what? Oy, say it simpler!"

"It means you punch and kick harder, brat. It also means certain actions like scratching and poking can cut. Be careful what you do because you can seriously hurt someone if you poked or scratched them." Jiraiya warned. "Oh, it might be good if you are able to control it. Such mastery over wind is rare and you could be drastically more powerful with the mastery of this."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll work on it. Anyways, I need training soon."

Jiraiya walked up to the boy and grabbed the goggles off the top of blonde boy's head.

"Hey!"

The seal master started applying a jutsu and said, "Putting a seal to make sure no Hyuuga or any technique can see your eyes. Besides, what's the rush?"

"It's so that me and Sakura can go out and find Sasuke!" The sage finished the goggles and gave it back.

"Hmph, well I won't keep you." The toad sage left with one thought on his mind. "I'd better talk to Tsunade for a mission. This brat won't let go of the idea. I'm pretty sure his teammate is going to ditch town tonight."

* * *

Tenten was bored out of her mind. She would be training but her father asked that she stay and watch the shop. He apparently had a rush order to do. There were absolutely no customers today. Suddenly the door opened and a monk walked through.

"I'm sorry, but the shrine is that way." Tenten pointed out the direction of the shrine.

"Funny, I placed an order here to get my staff fixed. Fujino Akira."

"Staff? We normally don't do staves, just Kunai, Shurikens, and various other ninja bladed weapons… Besides being a ninja blacksmith shop, we can't make ceremonial items." Tenten commented.

"Tenten, don't be rude to the customer. Mister Fujino, your staff is ready as well as the concealed sword in the staff." Tenten's father said as he walked out.

"Ah thanks. Hmm, seems stronger." The monk inspected the staff and pulled the top of the staff to unsheathe the sword. "Oh, used ninja magic on this?"

"Ninja magic. If you're talking about strengthening the sword by using chakra in the process. Then yes, I used this 'ninja magic' you speak of."

This entire time, Tenten's eyes were glued to the staff and sword. "No kid, this is not a toy!"

Non-plus by the kid comment, "Well, I didn't want that anyways. I have my weapon scroll."

"Ah playing ninja?" The man commented even though he knew she was a ninja. That forehead protector was a good indication, especially when it looks authentic. "Well, kid. Enjoy playing ninja, I got work to do."

As the monk walked out, the girl stuck out her tongue.

"Now you won't have a problem with a bandit breaking it, I've made it that strong." The blacksmith called out.

"Heh, bandits. Like bandits could break my old staff." the exorcist smirked as he walked northward.

* * *

It was getting late at night as Naruto kept training. He realized that if he intending to seriously punch and kick that there would be the air blast that would happen. The same would happen if he wanted to scratch to cut. It seems that the wind manipulation worked on the intent of his actions. Seemed about right as he thought his clones were hitting harder than they should.

He checked his Rasengan to see if it changed, but it didn't. Intent was not enough to change the Rasengan, it was due to the fact that he was consciously moving his chakra for it. It would've been strange if it did when Naruto thought about it. He would be cutting a tree when he walked up it.

"If the Rasengan was a bit stronger, I might have stopped Sasuke…" Suddenly Naruto thought back earlier to this day. "Shit, Sakura not thinking about going out now to get him!"

With that, Naruto left his training area and toward the north gate. Naruto sighed in relief when he found Sakura walking down the path. "Sakura!"

She turned back and saw the orange clad boy. "Don't try to stop me! I've been nothing but a burden to you."

"I'm not going to stop you." The pink-haired girl was dumbfounded by the reply. "I'm going with you. We'll bring back Sasuke together, dattebayo! I guess I can count as a third person for the three man team with one clone."

"And you two know that you'll become missing nins if you leave without permission!" The sennin said as he appeared out of the foliage.

Sakura was about to have a heart attack. One of the sages with equal to or better strength than Orochimaru just appeared. And it sound like he's going to stop them.

"That's why I'm going with you guys on a mission to find Sasuke." The pink haired girl was about to use a smoke bomb before the words processed. She stopped and looked over to Naruto who had the same idea. It seems they have a three man team for this now.

* * *

It was the morning when the monk arrived at Keiko village. He was greeted by the village chief as he offered tea. It seemed as he walked through town, there was foreboding feeling of the place.

"So you've sent people and ninjas to the town about a day's walk to the east?" the monk said as he was sipping the tea prepared by the leader.

"Yes, none returned, but we've ventured nearby and felt an ominous aura from Raka."

"Has anything odd happen?" The monk asked as he served himself another cup of tea.

"Well, I think some people saw a Jashin cultist walking around the area."

The monk abruptly stopped what he was doing. As soon as the man said Jashin, the monk's heart skipped a beat. "That can't be good. How long ago was that?"

"About two or three weeks ago. We've called Konoha to get help, but it seems that they haven't come back yet."

"I'll see what I can do about it." The monk said. If the cultist was here for a couple of week and the town next to the village stopped contacting then this cultist must be up to something big. If the ninja's could not silence him then this must be a powerful cultist. One that learned enough of the ways of Jashin to cast the Curse of Regeneration on himself.

"I hope you can resolve this, people are disappearing from the village lately." The chief said as he thought of his fellow villagers fearing for their lives.

"That CAN'T be good." The monk said as he hurried to leave. He was going to rest for a bit before heading eastward to Raka.

* * *

Over in the land of rice, the trio stopped in front of a town that seemed deserted. "Naruto, give me your cash."

"What? Why? Are you after my wallet again?"

"Well, I need cash for what I'm about to do." The old man said with a perverted grin.

With a sigh, Naruto pulled out his wallet which Jiraiya promptly took. "That's all, you've got to have more."

"Yeah, that's all," the boy replied. The sage grinned and suddenly picked the boy up and shook all the loose cash away. "Damn you. Now that's all I have, ero-sennin!"

"Brat, stop calling me that!"

"That's right Naruto. This is one of the legendary sannin." Sakura said as Jiraiya nodded in agreement. She pulled out her wallet and gave it to the old man, who counted the money and left into the town after yelling out to wait outside town.

"Sakura-chan! You didn't have to give the womanizing pervert!" Naruto yelled as he and Sakura left

"Naruto, we needed information." The girl said as she convinced herself that it was the right decision; however, when the blond boy labeled the guy as a 'womanizing pervert' she started to have her doubts. Especially the fact when the said boy invented one of the most perverted techniques in Konoha history. "I'm pretty useless anyways."

"You're not useless! You kept us alive in the Forest of Death, remember? You also are able to detect and dispel Genjutsu where I can't do that!" Naruto reasoned as it seem to cheer the girl up. They stood there quietly after that and waited for Jiraiya. It was too long until Sakura heard something in the bushes.

"Naruto, watch out." Sakura said as she dodged to the side from the three kunai from the bushes. The warned boy also dodged and retaliated with kunai. The attacker jumped out of the bushes and a Kunai ready. Both Genin noticed their attacker was around their age, dressed in a gray sleeveless shirt and green shorts.

"Who are you? One of Orochimaru's thugs?" Naruto asked as he readied a Kunai.

"Tch, I got it wrong." The would be assassin said and threw a smoke bomb. Naruto would have been able to follow but the figure jumped into the tree and masked their lines with the tree's lines unintentionally.

"Naruto, stop!" Sakura shouted as the boy was about to blindly run through. The blonde looked down and saw that there are caltrops on the ground. That would've hurt. Hearing another commotion behind him, the boy turned and saw a sage being chased by a crowd.

"You two! Run!" The sage ran passed. The two looked back then ran after the adult. It would take them the entire day to lose this crowd of people.

* * *

Akira was approaching Raka when it was sun was setting. There were a few things that the monk was noticing. The closer he was getting the more he can feel a dark presence in the area, there was a stanching in the air, and lastly, he could feel the lives of hundred or more people in the area that died a horrible death. It wasn't long until he actually entered the town.

"The place is desolate, not a soul in sight," the monk commented to himself. One thing was bothering him; there was a lot of mana in the air. Something shifted from the right of the monk before he forcefully dodged back. The figure, which would classify as a citizen of town had half his face not rotted off, that started to attack him had a butcher knife.

Akira whistled and said, "Ah, getting attacked by zombies this time? I also was attacked by zombies last time there was a Jashin incident. I think this is a trend." The monk said a prayer as more grotesque figures appeared. The exorcisist finished his prayer and smacked one of the approaching zombies with his staff. The undead instantly bursts into dust as Akira surged forward and purified the remaining undead on his way toward the center of the village.

"Ah, a demon slayer here to stop me?" the cultist said as he saw the approaching monk. The Jashinist had a black cloak and was carrying a scythe.

"Yeah, the locals were getting concerned by the smell you were emitting."

"Ha, a jokester? Well monk, it appears you are too late. I've spilled the blood for Jashin and he is pleased! And I've planned to spill more as I complete this spell!"

"Spell?" Akira looked around. There was nothing out of the ordinary. There were no drawings and the cult wasn't chanting. That would mean one thing, he still hasn't have enough power to activate whatever he wanted. In any case, he should stop him here.

"Those ninja that were sent sped up my plan immensely with their life. I almost have enough power to activate the spell! I just need your LIFE!" The follower of jashin yelled as he sliced forward with his scythe.

The monk dodge to the right as an invisible attack sheared a house in two. Akira pulled the sword from his staff and approached his opponent while dodging the invisible wind attacks. As soon as the cultist was in range, the monk started off with a stab toward the heart. His adversary turned his body to avoid the stab and used that motion to spin his scythe for a decapitation. The monk ducked and sliced upward toward the cultist's arm holding the scythe as it passed by his head.

Akira successfully cut off the arm with the scythe and it flew away from the cultist. With a quick slice at the legs, another slice at the arms, and a stab at the heart, the cultist was limbless and was coughing blood.

"Hehe, is that all you have? Those ninja did a better job than this!" The cultist yelled as Akira noticed the limbs of his opponent started to piece back together.

"Shit!" The Fujino cursed and jumped back to a safe distance as a scythe and arm just passed by the area he was standing. "So a Curse of Regeneration? What a pain!"

Akira suddenly had to parry a blow as the cultist foregone long range in favor for short range. For a few minutes, it was a danced between dodging and swiping. Most of the time it was Akira chopping off limbs of the cultist.

"What's wrong? Getting tired already?" The cultist mocked as he manage to nick the monk and jumped back. "You seriously didn't think that prayer you were mumbling a minute ago was going to help you? It did nothing!"

The cultist then pulled out a doll from his cloak. He rubbed the blood from his scythe. "In case you didn't know, my origin is mimic!"

A person origin is their inherit compulsion that guides them in life. It is speculated from Akira's clan text that Jashinist get their origin awaken by Jashin. It unlocked their abilities to do magic through their origin, even if they didn't learn the basics. Being that the cultist was a mimic, would mean the last person he drank blood from had an ability to throw vacuum blades. Akira then had a sinking feeling about the doll in hand.

"Ah so you know where this is heading. This doll you see here, whatever pain it feels. You feel! See!" The cultist twisted one of the dolls hands and Akira grabbed his right arm and yelled out loud as he started to feel a twisting sensation from his right arm. It was only pain and the arm looked physically fine. "Oh, that was a good sound. Let's do that to the other arm." The cultist was about to twist the other arm when suddenly Akira yelled out.

"BEND!"

The Jashinist's arms where ripped away. "Oh, what is this? An ace up the sleeve?" Then the cultist realized something, he was not regenerating. "What did you do?"

Breathing heavily, "You think my prayers were nothing? They were meant to dispel your curse and your link to Jashin. The clan I came from trained demon slaying specialists and fortunately, you guys count as demons. Everything I do has some sort of purpose in killing you." Akira said while looking at the cultist in the eye. The cultist then noticed something about his opponent. The irises in Akira's eyes are green with a red ring around the pupil.

"Impossible! The Fujino clan? We wiped out the remaining years ago. What's with that power? They couldn't used that much in one blow!"

"Heh, true, but I'm one of the exceptions. Ever since your cult killed the last of my family, I've learned from the scrolls they have entrusted me with. I learned their ways as much as I could and trained my Mystic Eyes of Distortion to be the strongest. Now…" Akira's eyes started looking in opposite directions.

"BEND!"

The cultist body twisted in half at the waist spraying blood on the ground from Akira's psychic power. Akira was walked over to where he threw the other half of his staff and sheathed the sword. He turned around when he heard a sudden laughter coming from the corpse of the cultist.

"I was going to use your life force, but instead… I'LL USE MINE!" The final words of the dead minion of Jashin exclaimed as a pentagram shined on the ground.

"Oh hell, there's enough mana in the air to summon a SERVANT!" Akira exclaimed as he prepared for what was going to happen. Whatever hero, anti-hero, or demon showed up, it's going to get a whole lot of anti-spirit magic. The area lit up and suddenly the monk was thrown into a house. The last thing he saw before he passed out was something that couldn't possibly be human.

* * *

At the end of the day, the three ninja were currently resting in the inn in the Land of Rice. After the entire event of Fuma clan, they discovered that Orochimaru won't take Sasuke's body for another three years. It had taken all of Naruto's willpower to not use the power of the Mystic Eyes. He needed answers and not corpses. The only time he'd used it through the day was to break through the chakra barrier where he's been able to see the point after sometime inside the barrier.

"We're going to leave in the morning, we'll probably arrive around Keiko Village tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to go out and check around for information." Jiraiya said as he left the room.

"Pfft, ero-sennin is probably going to fool around all day." Naruto said as he was inspecting his bandages. "I can't eat with my hands covered like this! Hehe, Sakura-chan, you're going to have to feed me." The boy turned to where the girl was only to find she was gone.

"Sorry Naruto, I need to take a walk." The girl said as she opened the door. "Naruto, wait for me to get stronger. The next time we go, I won't be a dead weight to you." She promised as she left the now thoroughly confused boy.

* * *

Akira woken up in a pile of rubble, after removing himself from the pieces of house that collapsed on him, he checked himself for any injuries. "I'm damn lucky I didn't break anything. Hell, I'm damn lucky the monster ignored me." The monk inspected the area for any clue as to what was summoned.

"Doesn't look like it was a call to Jashin, this is definitely a summon circle. Now what did this guy use as a reagent." Akira commented as he walked to the center of the summon circle. It looked at what was being used and noticed that there was the hand from the cultist that Akira ripped away. "Hmm, definitely didn't summon a human, so a creature that had the same origin? Now, where did it go?"

Extending his senses, he could feel a dark presence coming from the west. Gathering his staff, Akira quickly headed out of town and toward Keiko Village. The monster that came from the summoning circle was extremely powerful, but it needed mana to stay in this world. The best way to get the mana was to absorb it from the populace and the closest civilization was Keiko Village.

* * *

After resting at the Land of Rice, Naruto's injuries mostly faded away. They were currently in Fire Country and were about to approach Keiko Village from the north when Jiraiya suddenly stop them. He had sense something completely wrong with the atmosphere when they gotten close to the village.

"Ero-sennin, what's the hold up? I want to get some ramen when we get back!"

"Brat, tell me that you don't feel that?"

"Well, I do feel a little bad, but that's because I might have ate something bad." Naruto said as he held his stomach as to express his point.

"Jiraiya-sama, what is that feeling?" To Sakura, she could feel something making her uneasy.

"We will need to check this out. Keiko Village is close to Konoha and as such, we as the ninjas of Fire Country need to insure that the populace is safe." The sennin proclaimed as the resumed their trip, this time with caution.

When they arrived in the village, they immediately heard sounds of fighting. They had found a monk dressed in a white cloak fighting an old man. The old man was about three feet high, head was shaped like a zucchini, was dressed in brown robes. The man was surprisingly nimble as he dodged every strike the monk lashed out with. Then the old man, suddenly threw a hand forward and knocked the monk down the street they were fighting on. The old man was about to move to finish the job when a barrier of light surrounded him. The monk sat up on his spot while he was breathing heavily.

"What's going on? And what is that old man?" The old ninja said as he and his genin landed next to the monk.

"Ninjas? Oh good, you guys will be useful." Akira breathed in relief then pointed at the old man trapped in the barrier. "That is a demon."

"D-d-demon?" Naruto stuttered out, suddenly he relocated behind Sakura, who also was paling at what was said.

Mentally calculating the time it will take before the monster breaks free, "We don't have much time before it gets out of that so I'll give you a short description on what we're fighting. That monster is known as Nurarihyon, it's a master of disguises and a shape shifting monster. I've ripped this thing into pieces and it still reformed! Right now I'm just trying to hold it in a barrier long enough to make it run out of mana so it can disappear. Buy me that time to get the barrier set up! Old man, help me set up this barrier."

"Okay, I'll protect and help the monk. Naruto, Sakura, distract the monster." Jiraiya said as the monster broke free from the barrier. Naruto summoned a fifty shadow clones and crowded the entire street. It effectively created a barrier between him and the monster. Then Sakura suddenly hit him in the head.

"Idiot! How the hell are we supposed to fight this guy if you take up all our space!"

"But Sakura-chan, it's a DEMON. I'm making sure it doesn't hurt us!" the blonde rubbed his head at the place the girl stuck. They quickly turned to the sounds of clones that are dispersing left and right. "Oh god, what the hell is that!"

Nurarihyon suddenly morphed into a middle-age man with blades of bone coming out of its elbows as it attacked and destroyed all but a dozen. Naruto decided he'll need to bring out the big guns as he prepped up a Rasengan with one of the clones while he distracted he monster with the others. The creature was effortless slicing its way toward the boy. Suddenly, a clone disguised a pebble dispelled its transformation and landed an uppercut. Taking this chance, Naruto rammed the Rasengan to the chest of the monster.

"Take that!" Naruto yelled then he noticed something about the line of the monster. This entire battle the lines were slowly appearing on the monster, but every once in a while they disappeared, only to appear at a different location. Suddenly the mangled form of the monster regenerated itself to the point where nothing had happened to it. "Aw, man what's it going to take to?"

"Naruto, Legends of Nurarihyon imply that it redefines its own existence to suit its needs. That's how it's able to walk into someone's house and drink their tea and pose as the owner. If it works like the legends, then it only needs to know what attack is coming to regenerate from it!" Sakura said as she read some book on demonic folklore. She then chucked a couple of kunai with explosive tags at the approaching monster. Before the smoke can clear up, Sakura threw a couple of Kunai where she though the monster was at. When the smoked clear, the shape shifting monster already pulled out the kunai embedded in the body. "OH C'mon!"

The area suddenly is coated with a strong atmosphere of fear as the unworldly entity started to shift and morph. It seemed like it started to take the two genin seriously. The area suddenly exploded and sent all kinds of debris at the two.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled as one of the kunai's that was embedded in to the monster's body flew at the girl. Naruto tackled the girl to the ground and used himself as a shield to all the debris. Sakura had her eyes closed as she was tackled to the ground. She opened her eyes when something softly hit her face. It was Naruto's goggles, some of the debris must've knocked it off his face. She remained froze when she saw the peculiarities of her savior's eyes.

"God damn it. We need to escape, that thing just blew away the barrier!" The monk said as he clutched his now broken right arm. The barrier he just casted was completely shrugged off the monster with explosive results. "I'm going to need at least ten monks to keep this thing down!"

"No! This thing is close to Konoha! I'm going to kill it right here!" Naruto yelled as he looked at the monster with his un impeded vision. He could see more on the monster as well as the movement of the lines as it shifted to various locations of the body. While, the monster form resembled a cross between a lizard and a minotaur, the lines seemed to be alternating at the same places as the humanoid form. Then Naruto dashed forward.

"Fool! The girl was right when she was explaining about the monster. You can't fight it head on!" The monk would've rushed forward and stopped the blonde when he was stopped by Jiraiya. "What are you doing, isn't that your student?"

"I have a feeling he might be able to kill this," Jiraiya said. The old sage wondered if this is what constitutes as the uncommon.

The monk watch as he saw the young ninja cut a small part of the monster arm then summoned a couple clones. Then a couple things happened in a sequence, the arm that was cut sudden fell off the monster, the other clones aimed for the other limbs which repeated the same thing, and the monster roared in pain as it fell to the ground.

"It's not regenerating…" Akira commented as a few moments passed as the blonde boy was studying his handiwork. "What did that kid do?"

When Naruto was cutting through the lines, he felt that he wasn't simply killing the monster. He was unmaking the creature at those points. It was like he was deciphering how the object was existed and erasing those locations. The boy then studied the struggling torso of the monster. The points where the monster existence, Naruto dubbed 'Death Points', kept rapidly shifting at two locations. One on the head and one at the heart. Nodding to his clones, they surrounded the torso and aimed directly at the points. Instantly, the monster's aura and body disappeared as its anchor to the plane of existence was severed.

The monk surveyed the surroundings as Nurarihyon disappeared and noticed the mana that made up the monster completely vanished like there wasn't even a trace left of it. The injuries and fatigue began to catch up to him as he fell unconscious. Before the boy could turn around, the man passed out.

"What's going on? Why isn't it getting back up? All Naruto did was cut and stabbed the monster? What is with his eyes?" The intelligent genin had a multitude of questions that were left unanswered.

"We need to get back to Konoha as soon as possible. Tsunade will need to know about this." The sennin said as he picked up the monk.

**End Chapter 2: Of Rice and Demons**

AN: Almost to the end of the first arc. The eye abilities will start to clear up soon. Probably won't be a lot of action next chapter.


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